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by FatedFantasy



Category: Dark Souls
Genre: Darkroot Gardens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-20 12:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3650925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FatedFantasy/pseuds/FatedFantasy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death pervades the air, a lingering reminder of the ones long gone.<br/>The dead are with us, always.<br/>Their souls are ours, for friends share the light and divide the grief.</p>
            </blockquote>





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**Author's Note:**

> This is just a drabble and my first work on AO3. 
> 
> It's a one-go, one-sitting thing, so hope you enjoy!  
> (There's not much content, but I just wanted to write about Sif because he's my favourite character so far in the Dark Souls franchise.)

One day, a wolf and a knight met.

Sif, the Great Grey Wolf, and Artorias the Abysswalker.

Along the way, their paths intertwined with a young man who would later become a knight, a saviour of the light.

Travelling across the land, the trio sought to free the world from corruption and darkness. All was fair, or a low level of fair, until Artorias was consumed by the Abyss, and in his dying moments, used his remaining energy to create a barrier around the wolf pup.

_One, two, three, four._

Heartbeats intertwined until one slowed down.

_Four, three, two, one._

“Remember me,” Artorias’ eyes seemed to plead.

_One, zero._

_Goodbye, my little wolf._

 

Anguished, the wolf separated from the man, choosing instead to protect Artorias’ grave.

_His master. His friend._

Legends of legends.

Heroes of heroes.

 

The young man had become a knight now and he saw the multiple endings to his timeline, but he could only choose one.

The world succumbed  to tendrils of darkness and fallen souls. In that future, Sif lived until the end of days and was reunited with Artorias.

That was not this future. In this one, Sif had to die, a tribute to a new age of light.

Maybe he could avoid the wolf. Maybe his armour would be protection and disguise enough to let him pass unheeded, a wayfarer with wanderlust.

He approached closer and was so close to the gate. He was going to make it!

But the wolf recognised the knight and the knight recognised the wolf.

Memories began to surface and float like buoyant lilypads as the past became the future and the present became an entity of its own. Two different fates merged into one long ago, and now one fate flowed into two rivers.

The knight lowered his sword as Sif padded softly towards him. The wolf lowered his head and sniffed him.

And then it struck Sif like a thunderbolt: _You have to die, friend_.

In this timeline, in this world, in this stretch of eternity, only one of them could go on. The other would live on in memories and emblems.

And the knight knew as well.

“Hey boy, you’re still protecting Artorias, right?”

The wolf looked away.

“We don’t have to do this, you know,” the knight continued. “Let me pass, and you shall be saved.”

Sif raised his head to meet the knight’s gaze. In the primal nature of the guardian wolf’s eyes, there was a fire that had not been there when the knight met him as a weakly pup. In them was also… sadness?

And then the blaze overtook the waters of remorse as the wolf growled and lifted his sword and launched himself towards the knight, his old friend.

And the knight knew what he had to do for Artorias.

As the saviour of the world.

As a friend.

 

It was over in a heartbeat. The wolf laid there on the sodden ground, bleeding blue and white tendrils. They weaved their way to the sky, silent as the tears the knight was holding back. A sense of serenity cloaked Sif and he locked eyes one last time with the knight before his muzzle bided the dirt good night.

In a moment, his whole body shimmered and lights illuminated the Gardens as he disappeared from existence.

_The cycle of life and death continues. I shall live, and you shall be reunited with your master._

 

The soul stayed afloat mid-air, gray, white and blue in its glory. As the knight approached closer, he peered into it and saw himself alongside a young, small wolf as they traversed the landscape.

The knight reached out to feel the warmth of Sif’s soul, to remember the fallen ones, to remember the times he had shared with the grey wolf and his master. Suddenly, a blinding light emanated from it and shielding his eyes, the knight quickly grabbed the soul.

When the light dissipated, the soul had split into two: one orb golden, and the other blue.

The Soul of Artorias and the Soul of Sif were ever so divine.

_At that very moment in time, the knight had never felt so much at home._

 

As he continued onwards into the Darkroot Gardens, he paused for a moment, and wielding Sif’s divine knightsword  so that the flat part reflected his visage, he closed his eyes for a moment, a reprieve before setting forth on his journey.

Opening his eyes, he thrust his own sword on the ground.

He left shortly afterwards, a lump in his throat and a soul sign pulsing on the ground.

“Good night, my starlit guardian,” the knight murmured.

He was greeted with silence.


End file.
